Senate unites to slam MNAs' arrest

ISLAMABAD:

In a rare show of unity, the treasury benches in the Senate supported an opposition resolution in condemnation of the arrest of the lawmakers from the National Assembly earlier this week, though both sides exchanged verbal blows against each other.

The house, which met here with Senate Chairman Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in the chair, passed the resolution unanimously after hard-hitting speeches from both sides. The house also discussed the police sit-in in Lakki Marwat in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) as well the slow speed of internet.

During the session, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) parliamentary leader Ali Zafar read out a message from the party founder Imran Khan in the house, which stated that the party would hold a rally in Lahore, whether or not the government gave permission for it.

Speaking about the arrests of the PTI lawmakers, Zafar demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi over the arrest of the assembly members from inside parliament. "Now, mere condemnation is not enough," he said.

Zafar said that death threats had been hurled at the PTI founder. He added that PTI founder had urged the people to come out for their rights and hold peaceful protest. "The situation is heading towards a revolution. If the revolution came, there will be no parliament, no government and no institutions."

Responding to Zafar's address, Senator Irfan Siddiqui of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), strongly condemned the incident of September 8 – the PTI rally in Islamabad and demanded an investigation into it. Siddiqui recalled his own arrest during the PTI government's tenure.

Aimal Wali Khan of the Awami National Party (ANP) expressed concern over the situation, saying that it was not in the interest of the country. Sherry Rehman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said that the arrest of members in parliament was condemnable.

He mentioned the atrocities during the government of the People's Party.

PML-N Senator Nasir Butt severely criticised K-P Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur's speech at the PTI rally on September 8. He said that if Gandapur came to Lahore, "we will not let him go back". Senator Abdul Shakoor spoke on the occasion.

Opposition Leader in the Senate Shibli Faraz of the PTI, later presented a resolution, condemning the arrest of members of the National Assembly from the Parliament House. The resolution was passed unanimously by the upper house.

After the passage of the resolution, Senator Rahman addressed the opposition, saying: "We have supported you but you should also be watchful of your conduct. We think that if you came to power again, you might do the same. But still we are doing everything for the sake of democracy."

The senators also spoke about the police sit-in in Lakki Marwat and warned that the situation was very tense. They said that one force was opposing to another force, therefore, those in responsible positions should take cognisance of the situation.

Earlier, during the Question hour, Minister of State for Information Technology Shaza Fatima briefed the Senate about the internet speed. The internet speed in the country is not as it should be," she said. "Because of some spectrum issues, there are problems in the internet."

Fatima said that she was constantly in touch with the IT and Telecom sector for the resolution of those problems. Another important issue, the minister of state continued, was that of the submarine cable, which would be fixed by the end of October.

Speaking about the ban on microblogging website of X – formerly Twitter – Fatima said that the step was taken on the instructions of the interior ministry. He revealed that a Data Protection Bill would be presented in the House soon. The session was adjourned till Friday morning.